The Dragon's Rose
by MissSherlockHieiHolmes
Summary: HieiXKurama. This is my absolute favorite anime pairing and I just had a craving to write it!


"You were the last person I expected to see today, Hiei," the redhead whispered to his short, three-eyed friend. "Once you went back to Demon World, I never expected you to come back here by your own free will. Honestly I didn't expect to see you again until my human years came to an end or you started getting yourself into trouble again." Kurama was a spirit fox who, to avoid death years ago, inhabited an unborn human child, a demon stuck in a human form.

Hiei always made it clear that he believed Kurama's human form was wrong, that he should be his former fox demon self and not pretend to be something that he clearly wasn't meant to be. However Hiei didn't meet Kurama until years after his human imprisonment and the feisty little demon would never admit to anyone just how much he truly admired this man.

"Yusuke told me that your mother died a few days ago and that you were holding a funeral today," Hiei replied quietly, the normal harshness that accompanied his tone nowhere to be found. Even his eyes had a soft sort of emotion to them when they were usually icy and hard. "I know how much you loved her. She tamed Youko after all." A sad, soft smile crossed the redhead's lips at that and Hiei perched himself next to where his oldest friend sat. "She was a good person, really nice. I liked her a lot, for a human." Contrary to popular belief, Hiei and Kurama did see each other in between missions with the Spirit Detective team and Hiei met Kurama's mother on several occasions. Of course he had to pretend to be a human for her benefit, but that was beside the point.

"It means a lot to me that you came, Hiei. Like I said, I didn't expect to see you again until I returned to Demon World for good. That might be a little sooner than I expected now," he said quietly, starring at his mother's tombstone. Luckily there was a large bench right next to the woman's final resting place. "She was my only real tie to this world. My original plan was heal and return to Demon World as soon as I possibly could. She was the only thing that changed my plans and kept me here…" It had been almost twenty-one years since Kurama was reborn as a half human-half Demon hybrid baby.

"I tried to get here in time for the service but there was a bit of difficulty getting across the border but I brought this for her," he said, holding up what seemed like a very simple white rose, but it was of Demon World and it wouldn't wilt, even in death.

Kurama's depressed smile grew as he took the rose from his short friend, setting the rose atop his mother's grave. "She would have loved it, Hiei, thank you. I know she would have been happy to see you again. She really liked you, you know."

"Odd, since people usually tend to hate me," the first demon mumbled. Sadly it was true, people didn't like him very much because he was so misunderstood. Life had made him bitter and cold. Only a few people had ever taken the time to understand why he was the way he was and even fewer could see the good natured heart that was hidden behind all of his walls and barriers. Kurama was one of the few that saw Hiei for the truly good person he was. The bad guy persona was just an act he put on to protect himself.

The three-eyed demon watched his friend for a while. He was missing his mother so much that it was almost painful to watch, even for Hiei. "You could come back to Demon World you know. You have friends there… Once Yusuke's wife dies, he'll be joining us on the other side. You could come back with me."

A soft, humorless chuckle erupted from the taller man's throat. "I thought you were over me, Hiei? What happened after the Dark Tournament? I thought that wouldn't happen again after you met Mukuro. You seemed to fall for her."

"Mukuro? She's a friend… She's someone who understands me easily because her life and mine are almost parallel but she isn't my lover. I thought you knew that?" the shorter questioned, turning his ruby colored eyes towards his friend.

"Well I assumed… You decided to stay with her, after all. You didn't come back to the Living World after the tournament to decide who would take control of Demon World. I just figured it was because of her." Kurama's emerald eyes met Hiei's ruby ones and a bit of a blush passed over the half-breed's cheeks. "But she's not a love interest for you? She seemed so perfect for you…"

"She's a perfect friend but as far as a lover… She's not exactly my type, but I didn't come here to talk about Mukuro. I came here to make sure that you were all right and that you had someone here with you," Hiei said but words weren't really what he wanted to concentrate on. There were more important things that needed to be exchanged between the two and simple words probably would not be enough.

Tears clung to the corners of Kurama's eyes despite the slight uplift to his spirits. To learn that the man sitting next to him was not in love with Mukuro was a fantastic feeling. The sort of fling they shared before Hiei returned to Demon World permanently was more than just a fling to the youko and now he was hoping that Hiei felt the same way. He didn't love Mukuro, so maybe he loved him instead?

"I think you're right, Hiei… I belong in the Demon World. My mother was the only thing that kept me here, so now that she—" A few tears rolled down the redhead's cheek. "—Now that she's gone, I don't think there's much left for me here. The only close friends I have will be moving to Demon World eventually and, to be honest, after you returned home, I always felt something was missing."

"Kurama…" Hiei whispered in his haunting, deep tone, reaching a hand up to cup Kurama's cheek in his surprisingly smooth hand. The smaller (but definitely not weaker) demon used his precise fingers to brush away the tears that were beginning to roll down the perfect face of his companion. "I've seen a lot of people cry but it hurts to see you do it. If you remain here, you'll always be mourning her. She wouldn't want you to do that. She would want you to remember her, but to move on." His hand moved to the long crimson hair, stroking it gently. Kurama smiled despite his miserable state and he leaned into Hiei, silently telling him that he was right but he also just wanted to be near the fire demon. The natural warmth that radiated off of the shorter demon was comforting to Kurama and he found himself smiling lazily.

"Stop putting all of your effort into trying to convince me to return to Demon World with you, Hiei, you don't need to waste time with that. There are just some things I should do before I depart from this world," the fox said and stood from the bench. The funeral ended a few hours ago and Kurama had been right by his mother's grave since the last guest departed the cemetery. Now that Hiei was beginning to uplift his mood, he was ready to leave such a gloomy and depressing place. His mother would always be in his heart, even as he physically left her behind. There was no need to linger around a lifeless body in the ground. Besides, if he didn't leave soon, Hiei would definitely start making fun of him for being too sentimental.

"Like what? Saying goodbye to your human pets?" Hiei asked. In truth, he sounded demeaning and rude as always but Kurama knew the difference between Hiei's sarcasm and Hiei's actual hatred.

"They aren't pets, Hiei, but yes, there are a few people I should say goodbye to, including Yusuke and Kuwabara, explain to them what I've decided to do and everything. Who knows, they might follow me," Kurama explained while he started walking along the small concrete path leading towards the main road. Hiei followed after him, muttering his signature "hn". He really did not like Kuwabara especially since the giant idiot was currently engaged to his twin sister, Yukina. "I know you don't like him but he makes your sister happy and she misses Demon World. Kuwabara would willing follow her there and you know that as well as I do."

"Great, so I get to see him on a regular basis again and be reminded that soon he'll be my brother-in-law? Oh, not to mention, I'll have to watch him grope my sister and not be able to slice his arms off for it? Fantastic." Hiei spent most of his life keeping his identity a secret from Yukina, not only as a payment for his gifted Jagan Eye, but also for the simple fact that he felt he wasn't good enough to be her brother. She was everything that was good in the world and he was a rejected waste of life, a curse just like his people said he would be the day he was born. However after the fall of the three demon kings, his identity was revealed to his sister and at first it was hard but as siblings, they grew close rather quickly.

A soft smile touched the redhead's lips and he reached for Hiei's right hand. A thought crossed his mind as he laced his fingers with his hot-tempered companions, that these hands were so skilled and so lethal, yet he knew exactly how talented they could be in more pleasurable arts. Contrary to what most people would believe, Hiei didn't resist Kurama taking his hand, in fact, he held the redhead's with similar thoughts running through his head.

Kurama gave Hiei's hand a gentle squeeze, leading him out of the cemetery. "You could go a bit easier on him, Hiei, he does love her, you know," he commented.

"Loving her doesn't make up for his idiocy, Kurama," Hiei replied; short, not so sweet and very to the point. The redhead didn't have much of an option but to chuckle and pull the younger demon along. They both knew without speaking where they were headed, partly because Hiei was a telepath but mostly because they just understood one another perfectly. Hiei chose Kurama as his partner years ago because they just worked.

Another thing that both of them knew was that Hiei would be returning to Demon World alone and Kurama would follow in a week or two. Hiei had a job to do in the other world and he couldn't afford to stay away for more than a day or so. If humans started slipping through the barrier without enough demons to intercept them and send them back (after erasing their memories, of course), Hiei's head would be on the line. However Kurama wouldn't leave without tying up his loose end. Hiei could wait a few more weeks. He'd already been living without Kurama, not that he favored such conditions, but a few more weeks wouldn't kill him. Hell, he lived through so much worse throughout most of his miserable life. Only recently had his life been anything close to decent.

"Would you like something to eat, Hiei? I ate at the funeral, but I can make you something?" the fox asked his friend once they were in his small but nicely decorated apartment. It was basically one room separated cleverly into sections to give the illusion of different rooms. Kurama moved out of his mother's house several years ago while he perused higher-level education. His apartment just happened to be a very short, five-minute walk from the cemetery.

"No, Kurama, I'm fine. I don't think you're too interested in cooking. In fact, I'm quite sure." Hiei really couldn't keep the smug smirk from crossing his face.

Normally a person would blush at such an accusation, but Kurama, being as experienced as his former Fox self was, simply returned Hiei's smirk with a smirk of his own. "No, I'm not too interested in cooking, you are correct… But you know how much I like to be a good host when I have company," he commented, closing the little bit of space between himself and the smaller man. If there was anything that could take his mind off of his mother's death, this was it. Hiei was it.

This was definitely not the first time Hiei and Kurama would, how do you say, fool around, but Kurama had always craved more between them. When Hiei met Mukuro, he believed Hiei fell in love with her and now he was pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case. Anyone with half a brain could figure out that Kurama wasn't exactly Mukuro's biggest fan, but Hiei was here for him, back in the world that he hated so much. That meant something but he couldn't be naïve enough to believe that Hiei was in love with him.

All he could do in that department was hope that Hiei returned his feelings. However Hiei did ask him to come back to Demon World, made it a point to make sure Kurama knew he wasn't in a relationship with Mukuro and came to make sure he was okay after his mother's funeral. All of this was extremely uncharacteristic of Hiei but for the most important people, the shorter would make an exception in his usually cruel behavior.

"You're delaying," Hiei accused. The distance between them had been closed but Kurama hadn't even kissed him yet. Perhaps he was waiting for Hiei to make the first move but Kurama was the more experienced of the two. Usually he took the lead and only surrendered if Hiei overpowered him. "What's wrong?" he asked, frowning up at the redhead. There was a very disappointing lack of clothing removal.

"Do you want me to come to Demon World with you because you want to be with me?" Kurama whispered. He faced so many horrors, both throughout his human life and his demon life, so why should confronting Hiei about their relationship be so terrifying? They were both adults. They could talk about something like this in a mature fashion, couldn't they?

It was hard for Hiei to admit his true feelings with words. His life was filled with rejection and misery so he grew cold and reserved. The only emotion that he ever shared with the world was anger and other than that he was calm and collected. Oh and sarcastic, extremely sarcastic.

"Why would I have come here today if I didn't?" the shorter demon mumbled, his throat running a little dry. He'd never utter the worlds "I love you" to anyone and the thought of saying them now was rather frightening. He wanted to avoid uttering those words but it seemed like Kurama was ready to force him to admit it.

"I don't know, Hiei. I know you care about me but the… relationship we've had in the past is not exactly a committed one and once you were able to run back to Demon World I never saw you. I assumed that whatever we had was over since we live in two separate worlds and you had Mukuro and now that you're here asking me to come back with you… Does that mean that you want more with me or does that mean that you just think I belong there?" The fox spirit needed to know Hiei's true feelings and the younger realized he wasn't going to get away with bullshit excuses.

"The only thing I missed when I went back to Demon World is you, Kurama. I didn't come all this way, on the day of your mother's funeral, just to take advantage of you. I realize I'm not the nicest person, but I'm not that cruel. Mukuro wanted a relationship with me, Kurama, and I couldn't be with her because—" As hard as it was to admit all of what was just said, he couldn't actually get out the "because I love you" part. That was a sign of weakness he wasn't comfortable showing even if he was only truly revealing it to one person, a person he happened to trust wholeheartedly.

"Because why?" Kurama prodded, hoping that the fire demon would just break down and admit it so they could make sweet, passionate love instead of just a nice round or two of pleasure.

Ruby eyes met a sparkling emerald set and even Hiei couldn't keep his eyes from betraying his true emotions. "You know why, Kurama, don't force me to say it," Hiei said to him, honesty and even a bit of fear reflecting in his eyes.

"How long have you-?"

"Always, Kurama… I couldn't be with Mukuro because I couldn't be with anyone else. That's the truth." Skilled, strong fingers reached up to grab onto the bit of hair hanging in front of Kurama's right shoulder to pulled him down, leading him like a horse to water, only the water happened to be his lips and finally they shared their first kiss in years. Kurama was hoping for the real words but this was just as good coming from Hiei and he really couldn't be too fickle about how Hiei expressed his love.

All that mattered was that he did express it.

Kurama pressed Hiei up against the counter just in time for an annoying beeping to radiate from within Hiei's cloak. The fire demon sighed deeply and pulled out a small communicator from under his scarf. "Shit, Kurama… I'm sorry. I have to go back to Demon World. An entire group of people stumbled across the border and they need me to erase their memories. I'm really sorry but the longer the humans are there, the harder it will be to erase their memories and if they can't be erased, they can't return to this world…" Hiei put the communicator away and kissed Kurama once more before pulling away. "I'll come back in two weeks, all right? Then I'll escort you back to Demon World and we'll be together."

"I'm upset that I can't have you now but maybe it's a blessing in disguise. In two weeks from now…" A bit of a devious smirk crossed his lips. "I'll make sure you can't move for days."

"That better be a promise," Hiei mused, returning Kurama's smirk. In his book, the rougher the sex, the better.

"It is," Kurama assured him and walked him towards the door. "I love you Hiei."

Hiei's hand froze on the doorknob and he looked back at Kurama with soft, uncharacteristic eyes. "Me too, Kurama, me too."


End file.
